How to know when you’re ready
I want to tell you two truths about bringing your gifts to the world.
You will never feel ready. And they will never be perfect.
I was on the phone with my team about a week before Replenish was officially released. I had to approve the latest proof and…it wasn’t perfect. We had flagged a handful of formatting and grammar edits that should have been corrected (even though five people read it multiple times on top of a paid copy editor)– we all still missed some spots.
I had this moment of torment, wondering if I should massively delay the whole thing to try and correct these last minute edits.
And then Donna, my assistant extraordinaire, asked me if she could read part of a blog post to me. As she was reading the article a quote by Tina Fey came up that said, “The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready; it goes on because it’s 11:30.”
In that moment I absolutely knew that my 11:30 had come.
It was time to move forward now.
It was time to rest in knowing I did my absolute personal best, I strove every day for over a year toward excellence in writing this book and if I paused, if I held back, if I retreated one more time to try and catch every last error I could find…then I would have passed over from seeking excellence to seeking perfection.
And when you do that, everything starts to fall apart, because the great likelihood is you will never allow your beautiful gifts to see the light of day if you ask them to be perfect first.
Perfection keeps us hidden and small because it sets up a finish line we can never find.
I believe we’re all meant to offer our best and brightest selves to the world…but our personal best is a very different goal than perfection. Whether it is how you are showing up as a spouse, mother, neighbor, business woman, or beautiful soul sharing her gifts with the world- be sure you know which track you are on.
When you are on the track of offering your personal best day in and day out, you know when your 11:30 comes. You know when you need to tend to the seed or when the fruit is ready to bear.
The next time you find yourself dimming down, recoiling back, fearing that what you have to offer isn’t good enough yet, find a quiet place within yourself and ask if this is your personal best right now?
Ask if your gift (as it is right now) can brighten a dark place in the world in some way.
If the answer is yes, then give it freely…let it spread hope, healing and love to those meant to receive it (which, incidentally always includes the giver as well).
Do you have a gift or a dream that keeps stirring within you to bring a little closer to offering the world? I would LOVE to hear about it…let me know in the comments!
Much love,
I love this thought. Simple, yet profound. I really needed to hear this today.
Thank you.
You are so welcome, Courtney!
Hi Lisa, I loved your post and how you express the courage it takes to look beyond perfection. Your opening quote is also very profound and expresses a recent epiphany I have had: that perfection is such a moving target. Your words are so encouraging! thankyou
Yes! Tui- exactly, perfection is a moving target and keeps us distracted from doing our best work in the world for sure!
Oh Lisa !!! I loved on facebook the article you wrote about how the book almost did not get written !!! Infact I think there is as much to learn from that one article as is from you courses… well theres plenty in your courses. My friend asked me to foward her that article as she has a cousin who is writing a book at the moment with a 1 year old in tow and wondering when or if she will ever publish it !!!
I had this experience just yesterday when I bumped in someone I had not meant in a very long time, my old boss. When she asked me what I was doing and I told her, she asked me immediately if I can help her learn it and it was in an area that I am looking to grow myself in. At first I oooohed and ahhed in my head about how this would not work and then quickly faced up to my own fear in my ability. But later last night I had a flash back of a memory thinking, this was another wonderful opportunity brought to me by the Universe and I really need to embrace I AM and feel, see and be my power. I was like yes I will honor this request and will keep my eyes open for more of these opportunities, and allow myself to connect and blossom.
I felt really wonderful with this aha !!!
So fantastic to hear, Shalini- keep open to the opportunities that make you feel bigger, freer, more open and more joyful!
Hi Lisa, I can’t believe the timing of your email about this post. I had just finished my own blog post about striving to be perfect, then checked my emails and there was your post. This is obviously a lesson it is now time for me to take seriously 🙂
Love synchronicity, sleepydwarf 🙂
HI,
Thankyou for this! I am about to start teaching ballet again. Something I haven’t done for 10 years but find myself in a small town where there is nothing. I have been so worried that I cannot give what I want to right now and this reminder sure helps! I am a single mum with 3 little ones so I cannot give the time I probably should to the preparation but will give it my very best shot.
Thanks again
Marjie
Oh Marjie! Cheering you on…I believe with all my heart that ever little trickle of water you give your seed of a dream will return back to you in deep investments either now or in the future!
Just what I needed to hear this morning. Like an arrow through my soul. The Enemy wants us to seek perfection knowing that we can never attain it. I am at a turning point with some exciting things in my life. I must cast out the lie of perfection and move forward into God’s light.
Awesome post. Thank you.
Mmm, yes, Pat- love calling out the perfection- shine the light on the shadows!
Lisa,
The timing of this post gave me chills. I have been struggling with “going for it” all summer. I resigned from my teaching position last Thursday to focus full time on my fledgling coaching business and I am having a hard time starting because I am feeling like it needs to be perfect before it starts. It’s my 11:30! Right now! Thank you for the inspiration!
Lauren! Yes! Do you hear me clapping?! 🙂
Lisa, I haven’t taken the chance to read too many blog posts recently, but without knowing why, I was moved to read this one today. WOW! I realize I always get what I need if I take a moment to acknowledge I am looking for something. This post was so comforting to me today and apropos because I am an artist and for 2.5 years I have been trying to find balance between motherhood and painting. I have AMAZING moments when I feel like I am soaring and everything fits and moments when I feel like I am a failure at both. It can feel like a rollercoaster of emotions. Well, recently I decided to create a new mural in my sons room (like a treat because I have been painting for other kids and wanted to give him something special) needless to say it is far from what I hoped it would be. It feels like I am forcing perfect and because of that lots of other things are getting off track. Your post is a BEAUTIFUL reminder to be gentle with myself and my expectations of myself. You gave me a new question to ask myself while reflecting on each day… did I do my absolute personal best? Thank you again for sharing your thoughts and heart!!!
Oh Betsy- so grateful you took the nudge, read this and it spoke to you! If we could be more gentle with ourselves first, can you imagine the ripples of good that would send out in the world?
I have never felt a blog post has been more written just for me than this moment. A dream is dancing in my mind and begging me to dance along, but I hide in the shadows. I don’t want to step into the spotlight afraid of what others might think, afraid I may fall, just afraid. Thank you for the encouragement to get up and dance as I dream of writing my first book. I recently started my blog as a catalyst for a book. I have the thoughts and the outline in my mind, but I just have to find the courage to pen the first word. Thanks for that push!
I am so here cheering you on Jennifer! If you have a dream dancing in your heart, there are people in the world that need your light- I am absolutely certain. Keep going!!!
Just woke up Mon. morning and “knew” it was time to give birth so to speak to a long-brewing desire to write…start a blog. Tons of thoughts and ideas flooded my mind and I got excited. Less than 12 hours later as i found myself among a group of women peers I immediately started self-doubting why I’d think I could this, or why I should even do this, haven’t done my homework or planning enough, blah, blah, blah… Then these words from you about giving my personal best and sharing who I am rather than perfectionism come as another confirmation to this reforming perfectionist. :-). Thanks Lisa
Sooo perfectly timed!
I am taking a Tabbatical in order to refocus and narrow down my many, MANY offerings and services. I love helping people so it’s hard to just do ONE thing and do it well.
As of last night, I was still looking at Big Ideas to help me put all of my “stuff” under one umbrella, or launch something so amazing, I could drop all the other stuff.
Then in talking to my mom today, just when I was getting emotional and discouraged with it all, we had something of a “eureka!” moment: I need to return to my Main Thing and KEEP IT my Main Thing!
I know what I love, I know what my gift is, I know what I REALLY want. And it’s time to embrace that and run with it like my life depends on it.
It’s time. It’s time for me to stop looking for a new idea, another way of talking about what I do or another cute little venture…and get back to business.
My Main Thing, by the way, is writing. When this Tabbatical ends on Sept. 1, it will be 11:30. And I already know that I am ready. Sooo ready. Embracing that today–and reading this–makes me feel like a burden has been lifted.
Thanks for the encouragement!!!
What great reminders, Lisa! I am tucking this post away to come back to again and again. I am being prompted to write regularly and start towards establishing a community of like-minded ladies, yet I have been holding back. Thank you for the prompting that “the great likelihood is you will never allow your beautiful gifts to see the light of day if you ask them to be perfect first.”
Hi Lisa
So well put and definately helps me to believe in myself and my talents. I love photography, but constantly find myself backing away from opportunities as I know I am not a ‘professional’. I have the mentality that if it isn’t ‘perfect’ then it isn’t good enough!!! (even though I see others that aren’t maybe as good, going for it and showing off and selling their work, and I think, well done you….but I can’t…..)
(I read a quote that I now love ‘the only photographer you should compare yourself to is yourself when you first started’, this is great for anything I think.)
Many thanks again Lisa.
Love and sunshine
Michelle
I know I have valuable experiences to share, knowledge and insights that will help other people move from being “stuck” in bad physical and emotional health. I think nearly every day about the blog I need to be writing and book that has already been mostly written via my ongoing journal that will need to be organized and edited into something coherent. But just when I think the time is really now, I am overtaken by the next crisis in the never-ending disaster my life has become due to the person I mistakenly married who can only use, attack and punish. I hope I can keep the desire alive until I can get enough days in a row free of drama that I can pull it together.
I came here and came across this blog in hopes of finding some way to view your webinar “From Scattered to Sharp” that I missed on Sept 25. That sounded like something that could really help!
Your words absolutely resonate. I am finding it hard to actually pinpoint though what exactly I have to offer that would benefit others!
Kelly- Stay tuned 🙂 I have something for just exactly where you are right now 🙂
Believe it or not, I just got back from a first meeting with a wonderful journalist and author who wants to help me get my book off the ground and published. I don’t feel like I’ll ever be ready. But I gotta do it anyway. Because as you say, when it’s time, it’s time, and you just know it…
Thank you, Lisa, for once again so beautifully reflecting what goes on inside me!
That’s amazing, Veronique! I can’t wait for your beautiful book to be born into the world!!
I love how you mentioned that one of our gifts to the world could be a beautiful soul. Just the other day I wrote down that one of my gifts to the world was a healed soul. I’ve been wounded a lot in life and I feel like that is one of my gifts, to show other people what you can accomplish in your soul if you do the hard work and not give up! I was confident about it at first, then I was second guessing the absract nature of it. Being that its not tangible like a business or such. What you said just confirmed that it is ok to bring something that may not be tangible, but still could touch other people in a postive way!
Thanks
Thanks Lisa, it is a lesson we have to hear over and over again. Love it.
Absolutely. I’m learning this in a practical way as I try to blog (mostly) daily for the month. I think about that quote REGULARLY because I simply don’t have the time or bandwidth to edit it to (near) perfection every day. I edit it, but not the usual hour or two spent tweaking phrases that so often happens otherwise.